FE Expansion Tank Build

[Grubby]

A small project assembling an FE expansion tank to keep me busy while I wait.

I purchased the unassembled kit and spent a few hours putting it together.

It needs pressure tested and painted. I need to pick up a valve stem to fab up a pressure test fixture.

Difficulty level 2 out of 5.

John

[DanEC]

Nice work. Anything special you soldered it together with?

I see a wheel in the background of the first photo that If I’m not mistaken, looks like a 19” Brembo wheel/package on a 11 or 12 Mustang GT. I had a 12 With the Brembo package that I traded in on a Shelby GT but I still miss that car.

[undy]

I modified my tank for my KC 482. I was plagued with solder leaks afterwards. I disassembled the whole tank, cleaned all the soft solder off , fluxed and re-soldered it with 15% silver solder. 10+ years later not one leak.

[Grubby]

I used 40% tin and 60% lead acid core and lots of flux. The solder flowed nicely and filled all the empty spaces. I pulled on the brackets pretty hard and they are solid.

Yes the car in the background is a 2012 Brembo car. It is currently my daily driver.

John

[Cobra_ZA]

Originally Posted by undy

I modified my tank for my KC 482. I was plagued with solder leaks afterwards. I disassembled the whole tank, cleaned all the soft solder off , fluxed and re-soldered it with 15% silver solder. 10+ years later not one leak.

Undy, what specific tank did you modify and how difficult was it? I am contemplating modifying a T-Bird tank to have the outlet on the left. Is it difficult to desolder and can it be done with a normal propane torch?

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Grubby

I used 40% tin and 60% lead acid core and lots of flux. The solder flowed nicely and filled all the empty spaces. I pulled on the brackets pretty hard and they are solid.

Yes the car in the background is a 2012 Brembo car. It is currently my daily driver.

John

Acid core solder is not intended to be used on electronics. Rosin core or solid core with rosin flux (preferred) is for electronics.

[KarlzEE Bebout]

Tony, Grubby is not soldering electronics.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by KarlzEE Bebout

Tony, Grubby is not soldering electronics.

Sorry I didn't go back far enough. I thought this was about something else.

PS. I'm surprised you can even find lead based solder any more for any application. I still have some in my stash.

[sunman]

It’s available everywhere.
It’s guys that know what to do with it that are rare.

[undy]

Originally Posted by Cobra_ZA

Undy, what specific tank did you modify and how difficult was it? I am contemplating modifying a T-Bird tank to have the outlet on the left. Is it difficult to de-solder and can it be done with a normal propane torch?

You have to de-solder every joint and clean every last bit of solder off/out of the joints. If you don't the silver solder won't bond. After that and the application of the required silver solder flux you'll need an oxy-acetylene torch as a propane torch doesn't produce adequate heat for silver soldering. After nearly 20 years after I did the tank I've had zero leaks. I was repairing leaks every couple weeks with the soft soldered joints.

[twobjshelbys]

You need one of these

[HTM101]

Eight or 10 years ago I bought a new expansion tank from these folks:
https://classicfordradiator.com/61-6...sion-tank.aspx

I wanted to powder coat it but knew the solder melt temp was less than the powder coat cure temp. I 100% disassembled the tank, bought some lead-based solder, some flux and used Bernz-O-Matic propane torch. I melted off and cleaned off all the original solder and rebuilt the expansion tank with the lead solder. And then I powder coated it. No leaks these many years later.

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